wildman, I'll have to check those out.

teslinhiker, looks like some good tips there, but I do have to be careful about eating too much before bed as I am diabetic, and we have a boy in the troop with a horribly bad peanut allergy so can't go that route either. Also, we did use a fleece sleeping bag liner, it helped some but apparently not enough.

denis, thanks for the input, adding to my list of possible things we can do better for our next outing

hikermor, yikes no cots? I'm wondering why as it seems to me like I sleep warmer on the cot than on the ground? But then, our sleep pads are not the best, I'll have to look into all the sleep pads that have been recommended here.

hikermor and BPJ, as far as site selection, we didn't have much choice in that matter, it was a council run event, we were on top of a mountain, a reclaimed strip mine site, no trees or shelter to speak of, and we had a designated camp site. The size of the tent may have also been an issue, as they were tall enough for me to stand in and i am over 6 ft.

mostlyharmless, I will have to see if i can get my hands on some wool blankets for that purpose, and as everyone else has mentioned better insulated padding for underneath

nursemike, I suppose that is a possibility, although we stopped to eat before we went to the camp site, a pizza buffet, figure there was plenty of fat in that meal, and as i recall we ate hot cups of noodles before going to bed, not the high fat snack everyone has been mentioning, but it was good and hot. Another factor, at least for me, is the complications of being diabetic for nearly 40 years compromising (at least to some extent) the circulation in my feet. The hydration could have been an issue, especially for my son as he tends to not want to drink enough for some reason (probably because I am always onto him about it and he is 13 and knows everything so dad is automatically wrong). My feet were certainly chilly, but I think I would have been fine til morning if my son hadn't come to my tent complaining of his feet being "numb" (in hindsight, they were most likely just very cold and he noticed it when he was putting his shoes on for a trip to the bathroom). The tent was also far less than ideal, but we had done ok in them at previous camp outs with similar temps (the drop to 15 degrees was VERY unexpected). It was also all we had to work with as far as the troop equipment goes, although I might have brought a smaller tent from home (7 by 7 ft footprint).

canoedogs, that is good advice. I can't say for sure that my son did, but i know i changed out of ALL my clothes and into dry underwear, long johns, and a fleece top and flannel bottoms. the down side of this was, I got very cold right before getting into the sleeping bag, which is not supposed to be a good idea is it? How does one make the change into dry clothing without getting cold outside the bag or compromising the bag with damp clothing (i.e. climbing into the bag to change clothes)?

A big thanks to everyone, I hope all this info will make for a better (and warmer) cold weather camping experience for my son and I next time around.